​This Simulation deals with putting yourself in the shoes of one of the millions of Americans living under the poverty line, going from paycheck to paycheck to survive. Can you do it? Prove it: http://www.playspent.org/

After you have completed, please analyze the simulation and discuss the following points in a well thought out paragraph.

1.) What were some of the challenges of trying to succeed for a month as a person in your situation?

2.) What were some hard choices you had to make as a paycheck- to-paycheck wage earner.

1. a challenge is that you don't have enough money to just keep yourself afloat. I ran out of money before I was even able to do anything for myself. I was not able to provide myself with necessities much less personal entertainment.

2. It was hard to choose where to live because no matter what it was going to cost a lot of money. If I lived far away the prices were low, but the gas charge raised. If I lived closer to work then the prices were higher.

Reply

Peter Sakalosky

10/29/2015 12:50:33 pm

1. It was difficult to decide whether to live far away from my job and spend more money on gas or to live closer to work but pay more per month in rent. Paying bills was also an issue as a paycheck-to-paycheck wage earner.

2. I was forced to choose between lending my mother money for an operation or keeping the money. This was a very difficult decision to make. Also, I was torn between hiring a tutor for my child, who was struggling in math, or saving the money.

Reply

Gabe Cook

10/29/2015 12:51:00 pm

1. A few challenges I faced while surviving were giving up opportunities for your kids to save money. My kid asked to join some programs at school but were too expensive to pay for. I had to make one of my pets suffer because I couldn't pay to put it down. Kind of depressing options I had to choose but I survived with $265.
2. Hard choices were choosing which food to buy and which bills to pay. I had to give up car registration to pay for gas and electric. Your also really limited on the food you can afford and what you can give your kid. I usually gave my kid things that costed very little. Other than that I was living pretty well.

Reply

Cody Kincaid

10/29/2015 12:51:59 pm

1. A challenge I ran in to was all of the loans and payments I had to make. This gave a huge risk of losing my car and ultimately my job because I can't get to work.

2. The hardest choices were when my kid wanted to do something and I couldn't pay for it.

Reply

Ayla Rorbakken

10/29/2015 12:52:09 pm

1. A challenge is that you can get by, but not without sacrificing things. You have to make tough decisions, choices people with higher incomes would have an easier time making. Things like luxuries, medical attention, giving your child a happy life are some things you had to sacrifice or put off.

2. Deciding whether or not to get medical help for excruciating back pain, an $800 root canal, what kind of expensive health insurance to get, whether or not you can afford to send your mother money to get medicine that she needs

Reply

Skylar Haigh

10/29/2015 12:52:17 pm

1. One of the challenges I had was that my child wanted name brand shoes. Another challenge I had was when I had to pay an extra $25 for my phone bill.
2. The hard choices I had to make were when I had to pay one bill or pay both bills.

Reply

Jakob Ritter

10/29/2015 12:52:24 pm

1. I ran out of money really easily , you wanted to my kid to be social and still go to school so you would give a lot of money , It was hard but I made it

2. Some hard choices , one was I got into a accident and I had to pay 500 or drive away well I didn't have 500 so I drove away , and all the money I gave up to the kid

Reply

Owen Weber

10/29/2015 12:53:07 pm

1. There were a lot of things that were unpredictable so it was hard to portion the money out for the month. Having people that were dependent on me was another difficulty. There were a lot of challenges that are easy for everyday people but poverty puts extra pressure on every aspect of live.
2. Health had to be sacrificed for cheaper options for me and my family. There were a lot of opportunities for my kids that had to be looked over because of our economic condition. I decided to go to work instead of joining a union or getting rights. It was easy for me to make these choices in the game but would probably be heart wrenching in real life.

Reply

Mikey Trahan

10/29/2015 12:53:12 pm

1. I had to give up a lot of things that would have benefited me, but had to help out my family. I had to ignore my health issues and my bills, big risks, but necessary to keep living. The challenges faced in this were very hard.
2. One example of my hard choices, was to feed my pet or let him suffer. I know that as an adult it is more important to keep my family fed though then my dog. I let the dog go and fend for himself. Another difficult situation was to support my kid in his extracurricular. I know this is very important, but I thought that he would rather eat tonight then for me to watch his game. These difficult situations pulled my family apart even though I was trying to do the right things.

1. There were a lot of hard choices and little money to do a lot of stuff that is fun/ important to me. Lots of bills and little money to pay it off with.

2. Hardest choices were choosing between my family matters (child, dog, mom, and grandpa) or money saving. Although they were not my family I thought of them as my own and had to make money and do things for them.

Reply

Sidney Schaeffer

10/29/2015 12:55:14 pm

1. a few challenges i faced was not being able to buy my kid anything. and i lost my job but i managed to survive with $954.

2. what i wanted to buy for food and telling my kid no. i bought ramen noodles and milk.

Reply

Dillon Begeske

10/29/2015 12:55:34 pm

1. Living day to day while low income is a lot more difficult than i thought it would be. There are many problems that most people don't think about, such as, your car breaking down or the price of your rent going up. Eventually paying for food becomes a struggle that you have to deal with. With kids it is a lot harder, because you have to pay to have them fit in with the other kids.

2. I had to try to buy food but still budget for the other payments down the road. I had to pay for the many activities that the child wanted to do such as playing a sport, or going to the museum on a field trip. It was also difficult to manage how much money you would need for unexpected problems like your car breaking down.

1. Some of the challenges was having to pay for food, healthcare, rent, bills, and what my child wants to do.
2. I could not pay for my electric bill losing money, I had tooth aches and I could not get it checked.

Reply

Julia Elias

10/29/2015 12:56:04 pm

1. Some challenges were keeping the child happy with things and paying insurance for cars and such. I did not allow my kids to join programs which will not help them in the long run. I paid for a tutor because education is important. It is also important to pay insurance and do laundry. I usually just asked a friend for help/
2. Some hard choices was choosing whether or not to ask a friend for help. I also had to choose to put the family pet down or pay for its bills. Also, paying for insurance and not answering calls about it. Finally, whether to drive from a hit and run or not.

Reply

Emily Ivory

10/29/2015 12:57:22 pm

1. Some challenges were deciding whether to be a good parent or to get more money.

2. Having to choose between going and supporting your kids concert or getting paid 50$. Or I had to break my kids piggy bank and steal their money which is a pretty bad thing to do as a parent.

Reply

kobe ahrens

10/29/2015 12:58:26 pm

challanges i faced were finding shelter and saving my dog. like honestly its pretty dumb to have a pet if your poor but im not about to kill a dog cause cant afford medical help. And i saved it and thats why i ran out of money in the 1st game,

in the second game i kept sending my kids to school to study and having the parents go to work then we ran out of money then the parents got bloody diarrhea and died then the kids so honestly its impossible to thrive.

Reply

Andrea Hale

10/29/2015 12:59:17 pm

1. The two challenges I faced were deciding whether to do what was cheapest or what was right. I typically had to go with whichever was cheapest but tried to stay true to my morals. I had to take many risks to complete the month. I really had to watch my spendings facing difficult challenges with every dollar spent.
2. One of the hardest choices I had to make was whether or not to spend the money for my dog to receive treatment. Luckily, in another tough choice, I was apply to supply my mother with the means to get medication. Also, when my child needed help in math, I was able to help her and did not have to spend the money.

Reply

Cameron Maxfield

10/29/2015 12:59:34 pm

Some challenges that I had to face were what bills could wait and what couldn't. Also how to help my kid further their education. Bills was the hardest.

Reply

Chase Day

10/29/2015 01:01:13 pm

1. Expect the unexpected and be ready for what life throws at you.

2. Going without food would be the biggest struggle.

Reply

Annie

10/29/2015 01:01:36 pm

1. Some challenges i had were deciding on whether or not to let my kids have fun and go to parties and stuff, or make them stay home to save money. Also, always taking the cheap way out of things instead of paying full price for anything.

2. Some hard choices were choosing which food to buy and make last. Another one was choosing where to live because no matter what it was very expensive.

1. you had to sacrifice a lot of stuff.
2. you had to decide what food to get to last you. decide whether to go to work or to go to one of your child's events. you also have to chose to pay to make your pet better or let them suffer.

Reply

Stevie Chavarria

10/29/2015 01:11:26 pm

1) A challenge were trying to decide the things I should and shouldn't get for my child.

2) The hardest part was deciding what things were more important for survival.

Reply

Dawson Gamble

10/29/2015 04:29:07 pm

Two challenges would be managing your money and expecting the unexpected. Managing your money is important because you can lose all your money on paying bills and then you can't pay for food. Expecting the unexpected is important because out if now where something can happen that may cost you money and you need to be ready for it.
Some decisions were either doing the wrong thing or the right thing. You could either do the wrong thing for free but maybe face the problem later on or do the right thing and pay money.

Reply

Leave a Reply.

Requirements:

For current events, students must extend the conversation with a one paragraph (4-5 sentences) response for a grade.